What About Atrocities That Have Been Done in the Name of Religion?by Rich Deem

Introduction

Many atheists claim that religion is evil and, as such, cannot be from God.
It is true that there are many examples of evil committed in the name of Christianity. In the
past, those who disagreed with "official" church doctrine, such as Galileo
were persecuted or killed. Many other Christians were brought before the
Inquisition because they were teaching from the Bible instead of from
"officially sanctioned" Roman Catholic Church materials. In addition, the Crusades
resulted in "holy" wars between "Christians," Jews, and
Moslems. In more modern times, wars have been fought between Catholics and
Protestants in Northern Ireland and between Jews and Arabs in the Middle East.
However, common to all this violence was an underlying struggle for power.
Today, some people kill abortionists in the name of God. Are these people
unwilling pawns of religion or using religion to justify their own evil agendas?

History of human atrocities

Therefore, I absolutely agree with atheists and others who say that many
atrocious things have been done in the name of God, and even in the name of Christianity.
However, these atrocities were not perpetrated by God, but by evil human beings.
If we look at the history of democide (which includes genocide, politicide,
and mass murder, but not war-dead) prior to the 20th century, we find that
millions of people were killed by people groups who wanted the other people groups
eliminated. Note that these numbers do not include those killed through
wars.

Unless otherwise noted, these are a best guess estimate
in a low to high range.

Excludes democide in China by Mongols.

An absolute low.

A very speculative absolute low.

From STATISTICS OF DEMOCIDE.. Calculated from the 20th
century democide rate and the population for each century since 30 B.C.

From table STATISTICS OF DEMOCIDE. Total undoubtedly
inflated by democide.

A minimum: includes plague dead in circa 541-542 A.D.;
1346-1771 in Europe; 1771 in Moscow; 1894 in Hong Kong; and
1898-1912 in India. From Duplaix (1988, p. 677-678).

What percentage of these killings were due to religious democide? It is
less than 3% of the totals. The surprising thing is that these killings
occurred during a period of time when virtually all the peoples of the world
were involved in some sort of religion. Here is the data for the 20th
century:

Includes
genocide, politicide, and mass murder; excludes war-dead. These
are probable mid-estimates in low to high ranges. Figures may
not sum due to round off.

Guerrilla period.

Vox Day, in
The
Irrational Atheist, lists 22 atheistic regimes that committed
153,368,610 murders in the 20th century alone:

Murders by Atheists (20th Century)

Country

Dates

Murders

Afghanistan

1978-1992

1,750,000

Albania

1944-1985

100,000

Angola

1975-2002

125,000

Bulgaria

1944-1989

222,000

China/PRC

1923-2007

76,702,000

Cuba

1959-1992

73,000

Czechoslovakia

1948-1968

65,000

Ethiopia

1974-1991

1,343,610

France

1793-1794

40,000

Greece

1946-1949

20,000

Hungary

1948-1989

27,000

Kampuchea/Cambodia

1973-1991

2,627,000

Laos

1975-2007

93,000

Mongolia

1926-2007

100,000

Mozambique

1975-1990

118,000

North Korea

1948-2007

3,163,000

Poland

1945-1948

1,607,000

Romania

1948-1987

438,000

Spain (Republic)

1936-1939

102,000

U.S.S.R.

1917-1987

61,911,000

Vietnam

1945-2007

1,670,000

Yugoslavia

1944-1980

1,072,000

Figure 1. Percentage of democide based upon type of
government control.

What percentage of this democide was due to religious conflict? It turns
out that religious democide doesn't even make the top 20 (although I am sure
there is some in the "lesser murderers" category. Still, the total religious
killings is less than 2%. In fact, the top two killers were specifically
atheistic states (which had never existed before in human history). Should atheism
be blamed for more than 50% of the atrocities committed during the 20th
century? The answer of course is No! If one examines the nature of
the regimes that committed these atrocities (even the religious ones), the
key factor is absolute power (see Figure 1, right). According to Professor
R.J. Rummel, in the 1816-2005 period there were 205 wars between
non-democracies, 166 wars between non-democracies and democracies, and 0 wars
between democracies. Lord Acton's warning that "power corrupts, and
absolute power corrupts absolutely" seems to be more than just a trite saying.

What about Christians who commit evil?

Jesus Himself addressed the issue of "Christians," performing evil deeds in a rather chilling prophecy:

"Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'" (Matthew 7:22-23)

One should note that Jesus said that "many" people who think they
are His followers will be rejected by Jesus when at the judgment when they
attempt to claim that they are His disciples. Not all who claim the name of Jesus are actually His disciples. My guess is that in even the best of Christian churches only about half of the people have been truly born again (see John
chapter 3).1 Christianity should be judged on the basis of what Jesus said and did, not on the basis of the actions of people who merely
claim to be Christians.
Foxe's
Book of Martyrs details the deaths of Christians who were killed because of their faith in Christ, in many cases by people
claiming to be Christians.

How do you know if a person is a Christian or not?

We cannot know for certain whether a person is or is not a true Christian
(only God can makes such a determination).2
However, the Bible describes the nature of a person who is indwelt by the Holy
Spirit3 (which happens at the point a person accept
Jesus as Lord and Savior):

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. (Galatians
5:22-23)

In addition, the true believer does what is right and demonstrates
love toward others.4 Even non-believers can readily
see who the true Christians are. Ultimately, the behavior of those who claim to
be Christians but practice evil should not be a consideration in determining if
the claims of Christ are true or not.

Conclusion

Yes, "Christians" have committed atrocities against other religious
and non-religious
people. However, atheists have committed far more atrocities than all
religious groups combined. Even so, the key factor in these atrocities has
been totalitarian power, rather than religion, which has resulted in these
hundreds of millions of murders. The Bible says that people are evil (and the
statistics on this page support this claim), but that they can become
transformed through the power of the Holy Spirit to live lives of love, joy
and peace.

References

Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews;
this man came to Him by night, and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."
(John 3:1-2)
Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
(John 3:3)
Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?"
(John 3:4)
Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit."
(John 3:5-8)
Nicodemus answered and said to Him, "How can these things be?" (John
3:9)
Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not understand these things?
Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak that which we know, and bear witness of that which we have seen; and you do not receive our witness.
If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how shall you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
And no one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven, even the Son of Man.
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up;
that whoever believes may in Him have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.
For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him.
He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their deeds were evil.
For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
But he who practices the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God."
(John 3:10-21)

God judges based upon the intentions of an individual's heart, not just
apparent actions. See God Tests the Hearts of People.
It is only through faith that one can be completely
justified (declared
righteous) before God.

The Holy Spirit of God comes to live in the body of those who have
confessed Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior:
However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
(Romans 8:9).
Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: "He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us?"
(James 4:5)
If the person has already been living a moral life, the change may be
subtle, being primarily characterized by increased peace, joy, and patience.
However, in those who have led immoral lives, the change is dramatic.

This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.
(1 John 3:10)